Germany Takes Back More Gold from U.S.

The German Central Bank, Deutsche Bundesbank, announced today that they have successfully resumed repatriation of the country’s gold from the United States and France. In a press release posted on the Bundesbank website, the bank touts that 120 tonnes of gold have been transferred back to Germany in the past year, with 35 tonnes coming from Paris and 85 tonnes coming from the New York Federal Reserve.

This news is something of a surprise since previous efforts of repatriating German gold have run into roadblocks.

In 2013, the bank first declared plans to store half of all of the country’s gold within Germany and put forth a schedule to complete the transfer of half its foreign-held reserves by 2020.

But a year later it was revealed that the bank had only been able to bring back a paltry 5 tonnes. Naturally, this led many to speculate as to the reason why they hadn’t been able to get their gold back from the NY Fed. Some experts suggested it was because the gold was either of poor quality, or simply missing.

The speculations were not unfounded. In 1968, in a confidential memo between the Bank of England and the New York Federal Reserve, the BOE revealed that they had uncovered impurities and discrepancies in gold bars that had been transferred from the NY Fed to Bundesbank but that “no indication should, of course, be given to the Bundesbank or any other central bank holder of U.S. bars, as to the refiner’s view on them.”

In other words, the Bank of England has worked directly with the New York Federal Reserve to deceive Bundesbank in the past.

In today’s press release, Bundesbank addressed those concerns and assured that the recently transferred gold was real and “when all the inspections had been concluded, no irregularities came to light with regard to the authenticity, fineness and weight of the bars.”

The bank still has more than 75% of its gold reserves waiting to be transferred.